


Of Prefects and Animagi

by SlytherinsLamp



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Back to Hogwarts, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Fun, Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts Prefects, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:14:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinsLamp/pseuds/SlytherinsLamp
Summary: Just a snippet of the Marauders on their return for their 5th year. Remus is a prefect and the rest of the marauders are a pain that he can't live without. Only vague hints of wolfstar, I'm afraid.
Relationships: Marauders & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Of Prefects and Animagi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiraMara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMara/gifts).



> To MiraMara,
> 
> Happy Valentines Day!! One day I may write something not dedicated to you, today is not that day! Here's a little snippet of the marauders life- there's no real plot here, just something fun- plotless and fun, sounds like us!

Remus had been a little surprised not to find his friends on platform 9 3/4, they usually always met there. Of course, James and Sirius usually arrived together, so maybe they were delayed, and it wouldn’t be the first time that Peter missed the train. Last year he and his father had scared the trolley lady nearly to death, appearing by appariation practically on top of the trolley. They had laughed about that one for days. Maybe he should have waited for them out on the platform, but the sound of the whistling train had hurried him inside. He disliked being late. 

He moved down the train’s corridor peering in to different compartments, maybe they just hadn’t spotted each other on the platform. James and Sirius had spent the last two weeks of the summer holidays on vacation together. Sirius practically lived at the Potter’s place. Remus had been invited as well but unfortunately the full moon had fallen right slap bang in the middle of the proposed dates. Remus had thought it best to stay at home. A holiday camp in France plus a fully-fledged werewolf on the loose didn’t make for a good equation in Remus’s eyes. James and Sirius had been all for it of course and had done their best to persuade him. But Remus had dug in his heels; running around the shrieking shack created almost too much guilt as he could bare, without adding innocent holiday makers to the list of people he had put at risk. That hadn’t stopped him of thinking jealously of the two boys, probably with sun kissed dark skin relaxing on the beach… not that James or Sirius were known for their ability to relax. More likely they had terrorised the place even without a werewolf present.

The train had begun moving. Remus moved more quickly from compartment to compartment looking for his friends. He was steadily reaching the far end of the train, which would have been his eventual destination, but he had hoped to find his friends first.   
“They made you a prefect?!” Said a scornful voice. Remus pulled up short at the sight of the ginger haired, freckle faced beauty glaring at him. He nodded dumbly, his hand going to the prefect badge on his chest before remembering he hadn’t changed yet and his badge was still in the bag he was tugging along behind him.   
“How did you know?” He asked Lily Evans, who was already in her school robes and displaying her prefect badge proudly.   
“That,” Lily said with a tone of deep disgust as she pointed into the compartment reserved for prefects, where they were meant to meet later to receive instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and meet the other prefects before the start of term. Remus, confused, moved closer towards her until he could peer into the compartment.   
“Oh, shit…” He muttered, feeling his cheeks blush furiously.  
“How old are they?” Lily threw her hands up in despair, “How are you going to be a Prefect when you can’t even control them?!” Remus just shook his head.   
In the compartment, lounging on the seats surrounded by a heap of wrappers, laughing, punching and throwing things at each other and completely unaware that anyone was watching them, were his three missing friends.   
“What are they doing in there?!” asked a new voice, Remus turned to find the Head Boy peering over his shoulder.   
“Oh shit, I have no idea, I’m so sorry…”  
“Where did they get Prefect badges?” Another prefect asked, pointing over Remus’s other shoulder. As if they had felt the weight of several gazes on them the three boys finally looked up. James and Sirius sprung to their feet, puffed out their chests and wiggled the glinting Gryffindor prefect badges at the crowd of real prefects stood just outside. Remus groaned.   
“Is it too late to claim I have no idea who they are?” He asked, Lily snorted, “Just… give me a second.”

Remus slid open the door of the compartment and quickly stepped inside, shutting the door behind himself. “What are you doing?!” He hissed through clenched teeth. James and Sirius shared a shocked look.   
“What do you mean?” They asked, practically in unison.   
“Why are you in the prefect compartment?!”   
“Because we are prefects,” they said again in unison, they laughed.   
“We didn’t even plan that,” laughed James, clapping Sirius on the back.   
“You aren’t prefects. I am a prefect!” James and Sirius looked at each other again, confused. Peter was also looking at him in, what was more clearly, mock confusion. Remus’ eyes darted from face to face, his cheeks a brilliant shade of red and clearly getting crosser by the moment.   
“But… its all or nothing,” said James eventually.   
“What are you talking about?!” Remus snapped.  
“Well, they can’t just have you, we come as a foursome…” Sirius began to explain.   
“Out!” Remus growled.   
“Oh look, there’s the vein…” Sirius pointed to Remus’s forehead. Remus slapped his hand away.   
“GET OUT!” Remus bellowed, “You bloody idiots!”   
“Alright, alright,” James held up his hands in surrender, his smile falling a bit, though Remus suspected that was also part of the act, a suspicion that was confirmed when it returned to full brilliance not five seconds later. He shoved Sirius towards the compartment door, “We’re going… did you at least like our replication spell?” He pointed at his badge. Remus just shook his head and pointed at the door.   
“He’s ashamed of us!” Said Sirius in mock affront.   
“Too good for us, now he’s a prefect,” added Peter. Remus rounded on them practically snarling, the three just grinned back at him and waved nonchalantly at the prefects outside. James even dared to wink at Lily, who glared straight back. With his friends gone, Remus turned again to the compartment and the mess they had left behind. He whipped out his wand and quickly tidied up after them. Well, this was a great start to being a prefect, he thought sourly.

“I can’t believe Dumbledore picked you,” Lily was saying again, Remus had lost count of how many times she had said that since first spotting him on the train. The problem was that he didn’t have a reply for her. He didn’t know why Dumbledore had picked him. Dumbledore knew what he was. How could Dumbledore put him in this position of trust? It made something on his insides swell with pride, the trust that Dumbledore had shown him, but it also made something constrict at the thought of possible failure. “The four of you haven’t got a mature bone in your body!” She continued, “And to think we have to work together!” They were doing a quick patrol of the train corridor as they had been ordered to by the Head Boy and Girl. Remus felt that Lily was being a little unfair tarring him with the same brush as James and Sirius, who were rather immature at times. Remus was generally more reserved than them, though they did bring out the worst in him, so maybe she wasn’t so wrong.   
“What is that sound?” Lily asked. All the other compartments had been a hive of noisy teenagers, over excited about being reunited with their friends and off to another year of Hogwarts. Now, though, they were passing by the toilets and from the next compartment seemed to be coming the sound of classical music. Perplexed the two prefects peered into the compartment. Remus groaned again. They were idiots. All three of them. Put here, solely to torment him.   
James and Sirius; in their best dress robes, hair slicked back with some sort of gel, sat straight backed, holding cups of tea, with their pinkie fingers sticking out, playing chess. Sirius adjusted a monocle. Peter stood beside them pouring tea into Sirius waiting cup. Classical music was playing out of an enchanted radio and the two boys were moving the pieces sedately and sipping primly from their cups. Lily looked from the compartment to Remus and rolled her eyes.   
“They are idiots.” She parroted his own thoughts back at him, “You sort them out… I’m going to find my friends.”

Remus watched her go and then turned a furious glare on the three inside, who, while his back had turned, had managed to whisk themselves out of their dress robes, into their normal robes and were now lounging back against the seats, throwing a small ball back and forth between themselves.   
“You three are morons!”   
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Sirius replied lazily.   
“What were you doing?”   
“Just showing Evans how mature we could be,” said James, catching the ball and spinning it on his finger.  
“Why?!” Remus asked exasperated, “And why were you in the prefect carriage pretending to be prefects?!”   
“We didn’t want you to miss us,” piped up Peter. Remus’ mouth was hanging open, clearly lost for words.   
“Do you think she would date me?” James asked Remus seriously.   
“No!” Remus shook his head, “No, I bloody don’t. I feel more like your dad than your friend sometimes! Idiots.”  
“I can prove that we aren’t idiots,” Said James, suddenly sitting forwards, managing to look somewhat serious while still grinning brilliantly. Remus slumped back in his chair. He knew the look. James had figured out some tricky bit of magic and now he would want to use it and get them all in trouble.   
“I don’t want to see it.”  
“You will want to see this Moony, old boy!” Remus shot him a dark look.   
“It’s good, I promise.” Sirius moved to the door, “Muffliato,” he whispered, “Now no one can listen.”  
“Pull down the blind, we don’t want anyone to see either.”  
“See what?!” Asked Remus, “What are you going to do? You aren’t going to get us expelled on the first day back are you?!”  
“No,” snorted Sirius, “Though we would certainly get in trouble if anyone knew.”  
“Come on, guys, I’m a prefect now… I can’t… I don’t want…”  
“What?” asked James, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees as he whispered, “You don’t want company at the full moon?” Remus looked at them shocked and was glad to see Peter was just as surprised.   
“You’ve done it?” Peter asked, whispering.   
“Done what?” asked Remus.  
“We’ve done it,” said Sirius a wide grin spreading across his handsome face, “Want to see?!”  
“You go first. We wont both fit in here…” James hopped up onto his seat and gestured for Peter to do the same.  
“Wait, done what?” Asked Remus.   
“You’ll see,” said James, “Show him Sirius.”  
“We did this for you, Moony,” Sirius said, looking at him with this soft look he sometimes, got. He reached out and squeezed Remus’ fingers, “Trust us.” And how was Remus meant to respond to that, looking into beautiful grey eyes, full of sincerity and tinged with the softness that Remus had no name for? Remus pulled his legs up onto the seat like the others had and was only a little sad when Sirius released his hand.   
Sirius moved into the middle of the room, a look of deep concentration on his face.   
“We only figured it out while we were on holiday. We didn’t stop working on it, Remus. It’s those non-verbal spells that are the tricky bit. Once we had got that down… there was a description we found, didn’t really help… find the shape inside of you… what’s that even supposed to mean… but we got there… go on Sirius.” Said James, babbling happily.   
Sirius stood still for several seconds in the middle of the compartment. Remus watched and found himself holding his breath until, with a strange twist and swirl of his being, Sirius changed from teenage boy to a large, shaggy haired dog. Peter recoiled in horror.  
“He’s a grim,” he squeaked.   
“Don’t be an idiot,” James laughed, “He’s a dog.” The Sirius-dog let out a booming bark and jumped playfully up towards Remus, who also recoiled slightly as the large dog’s paws thumped down on his chest and a great lolling tongue panted in his face. Sirius jumped back down and stood proudly in his dog shape, the dog pranced around a little, clearly very happy with itself before the strange twisting of the air around him happened again and the teenage boy, still panting, stood in place of the dog.   
“The book says it will get easier,” Sirius huffed, “What do you think?!”  
“That was…. Amazing!” Remus beamed, his heart did a funny little hop in his chest. They were animagi, they were going to keep him company at the full, they had done this dangerous, illegal magic for him, because they were his friends, “I can’t believe you did it! What are you, James?!”   
“Show him!” cried Sirius jumping up onto his seat, “Careful though…keep your heads down, he needs more room than I did.” James stood and closed his eyes. Seconds later a handsome stag stood in the compartment. He tried to turn his head, but massive antlers got hooked on the overhead bag storage. The stag tried to untangle himself but just got his antlers more wedged. Sirius and Remus roared with laughter at the sight of the bewildered James-stag. 

“I can’t believe you guys figured it out,” Remus was repeating, this overwhelming unidentifiable feeling was building up inside his chest, expanding… it took Remus several long minutes to realise it was happiness. His friends loved him.   
“Think of all the stuff we can do now,” James said, “We could leave the shack! Adventure, exploration, fun…”  
“Terrorise, mangle and maul…” Remus said his smile dropping, “Its not a good idea to leave the shack, but at least you could keep me company.”  
“We could do that in our human forms.”  
“We have done that in our human forms,” Sirius reminded them, “The look on Minnie’s face when she caught you asleep in transfiguration, Peter.”  
“Oh, don’t remind me. That was the worst detention ever,” groaned Peter, “And what am I meant to do, ride on James’ back?!”  
“No, you bloody won’t,” said James, “I’m not a pony!”  
“Ha! Pony! You would make a lovely pony,” Sirius barked.   
“But I’m not an animagi,” Peter moaned. James sat up and clapped his hand down on Peter’s shoulder.  
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it! We are going to teach you!”   
“You will,” his eyes rounded in excitement, “Thank you! You guys are the best!”  
“We know!”  
“I wonder what I will be… probably a pigeon… or an ant… something stupid.”  
“Stop it. Be a bear…”  
“Or a lion!”  
“An elephant!” All three of them turned amused looks on Remus, “What?! He’d be able to squash me if I got out of hand!” Everyone laughed. Remus grinned, how could anyone think his friends were anything but the best? 

“Hey, your dates here,” said Sirius nodding to the compartment door, they had put the blinds back up after the demonstration, so people didn’t wonder what they were up to. Lily was stood outside, arms crossed and frowning.   
“Uhoh… what time is it?”  
“Did you steal my girl?” James asked in pretend outrage. Sirius snorted.  
“You got more chance of Dumbledore dating you than Lily Evans, Potter. She hates your guts.” James put on his best grin, ran his had through his hair and winked at Lily when their eyes met.   
“Stop winking at her, its weird!” Remus said as he pushed open the compartment door and did his best to ignore the wink that Sirius shot him, complete with mischievous grin.   
“Why are they smiling like that?” Lily asked uncertainly. Remus glanced back over his shoulder to see that the three marauders were indeed lit up with joy.   
“Because they are the best,” Remus said, blushing slightly. Lily just snorted.   
“Best at getting in trouble maybe.” But for once Remus didn’t agree. They were the best, period.

**Author's Note:**

> P.S Happy Birthday, MiraMara! 
> 
> (How many years before you are actually fed up of me wishing you a happy Valentines day first?)


End file.
